Recently, a report on state of research and literature on Afghanistan recognized the excellent work by two ALPA scholars "Deproblematizing the Federal-Unitary Dichotomy: Insights from a Public Opinion Survey about Approaches to Designing a Political System in Afghanistan" for its quality and originality. This article was coauthored by Dr. Bashir Mobasher, the President of ALPA, and Dr. M. Qadam Shah, and published by the Oxford Journal of Federalism (Publius).
Entitled "The State of Research on Afghanistan: Too Many Poor Quality Publications and Some Real Gems" this report accompanies a comprehensive bibliography of nearly 8,000 English language publications on Afghanistan. While acknowledging the vast amount of publications on Afghanistan, the report raises concerns about the lack of quality mostly. It emphasizes the need for in-depth research that often require local language fluency, a factor often missing in many Afghanistan-related studies.
The report highlights the work of Dr. Bashir and Dr. Shah as an example of exceptional work produced in the past five years. It stresses the importance of research like "Deproblematizing the Federal-Unitary Dichotomy" informing policy decisions, particularly in the context of a post-Taliban Afghanistan.
The bibliography includes the excellent work of many ALPA scholars. While the bibliography boasts over 8,000 entries spanning books, academic articles, and other publications, the report suggests a potential decline in future research output as international attention on Afghanistan wanes. ALPA community is committed to keep up the momentum and quality of their research and publications.
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